A blog about human brains and behavior for students of psychology.
Do you ever wake up in the night and worry about what the future might hold? Well, if you’re an optimist, maybe not. A new study published in the Journal of Sleep Research indicates that viewing the world through rose-colored
Having a realistic view of the world might be overrated. One of the first psychology papers to explicitly make that case was published in 1988 by Shelley Taylor and Jonathon Brown, under the title Illusion and Well-being. It challenged the
It’s solidly established that there appears to be a link between optimism and physical health. This can be seen, for example, from the fact that people with higher levels of optimism tend to encounter fewer health problems as they age.
There’s a new study out that’s been getting some media attention. In the study, researchers found that people who are more optimistic are more likely to make it to the age of 85, adding more evidence for a link between
Psychologists have been optimistic about the power of optimism, and a new study provides more evidence consistent with the idea that optimism might have far-reaching mental health effects. In the study, researchers in Korea found that adults with schizophrenia tended
Being able to take a bad situation and turn it into something good is a valuable skill from a mental health standpoint. Perhaps there’s no greater test of this skill than being confronted with a situation that’s not just bad,
You need a lot of things to start a business. A good idea, the skills to turn that idea into reality, and some cold, hard cash. Increasingly, psychologists who study entrepreneurship believe you need the right mindset too. They talk
If you expect that the future holds good things, you might be right. It’s a common idea that optimism can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and psychology research has tended to back up a link between positive expectations and positive outcomes.
We all engage in what psychologists call mental time travel. It’s not as futuristic as it sounds. Essentially, it’s just the ability to think about our past and future experiences. While we all engage in mental time travel, we don’t
Some people seem to be unfailingly upbeat, no matter what life throws their way. Ever wonder what the outlook on life is that all these people have in common? One answer that’s been proposed is what psychologists call the positive
